AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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1SG0] 
licious pears ; some of the old trees are standing 
yet, hot the railroad has destroyed many of them. 
I think we might as well call them native too. 
The Prevost family that I conversed with, could 
not tell to a certainly about the grape,but were cer¬ 
tain that it was not a native grape. I was speak¬ 
ing the other day with the widow of the late Dr. 
Holcomb, living in the neighborhood of French- 
town. Mr. Holcomb and Mr. Prevost were inti¬ 
mate friends. Mr. Prevost told them that he 
got it from Burgundi. Mrs. Holcomb has two 
large vines growing in her garden ; she told me 
that she often had to laugh at her husband as 
they walked in their garden trying to pronounce 
Burgundi, as Mr. Prevost did. The Delaware I 
think is as hardy as any grape we have. In some 
neighborhoods it does not mildew any, in others 
hut very little. Our Germans say it is the best 
grape they have ever eaten in America. The 
best vines I visited were grafted on wild vines. 
Bucks Co., Pa. Chaiu.es B. Ott. 
Mr. David Conyngham, of Lancaster County, 
Pa., writes on the same subject, that he has just 
been informed by Mrs. A. K. Witmer, that Mr. 
Prevost brought the first Delaware Grape vine to 
this country', and planted it on the farm now 
owned by her father, Mr. Steele, in Chester Co., 
Pa. This does not correspond with Mr. Ott’s 
account, unless it be shown that Mr. Prevost 
lived in Chester Co., Pa., previous to going to 
Frenchtown, N. J. These statements do not fur¬ 
nish sufficient ground for retracting our remarks 
last month, to wit: “ We can not tell the his¬ 
tory of its origin, and no one can with any as¬ 
surance of certainty.” 
A few Hints for the Garden in Winter. 
1. Did you, last Fall, throw up hillocks of dirt 
around your fruit ami ornamental trees liable to 
be girdled by the mice'! If not, then do now the 
next best thing, viz : go out frequently during 
the Winter and trample down the snow solid 
around every tree, and throw up more of the 
same around the bole. This will make it hard 
work for the varmints to get at the green bark. 
2. Did you, last Fall, protect some of your ten¬ 
der trees, shrubs and plants, by matting or ever¬ 
green branches 1 It would be strange if some of 
these coverings had not got loose, by this time. 
Take a tour through the lawn and garden and see 
how they get on. A few minutes’ work with a 
few strings to tie up loose things, will save you 
much disappointment and loss. 
:j. Perhaps the damp snow has lodged upon the 
boughs of some of your finest trees, evergreens 
in particular, and is likely to break them off. Go, 
this very day, and shake off the snow, and per¬ 
haps tie up the straggling branches to prevent in¬ 
jury in future. A stitch in time, etc. 
Sports among Flowers. 
Double flowers, as nearly everybody knows, are 
sports, that is, variations from the original type, 
which is single. A wild rose, (which is always 
single,) if taken from the woods and planted in a 
garden and highly manured, will often become 
double. The stamens seem to be hurried and 
<j|fced out of their natural development, and 
turned into petals. To the eye of a botanist, 
such flowers are monstrosities. 
We have seen a rose-bush which is famous for 
its sports. It is a white, everblooming rose, and 
is almost always in flower. Sometimes the petals 
of a bud will be streaked with red, then mottled 
and flecked with crimson. Sometimes a single 
petal will be crimson, while all the rest are white. 
And, strangest of all, occasionally, one blossom 
will be entirely crimson, while the others are 
white, or delicately striped. These sports occur 
most frequently late in the summer, on the ap¬ 
proach of frosty nights. It would seem as if the 
plant were a cross between a white and crimson 
rose, possessing most of the nature of the white 
parent, but occasionally developing a little of the 
blood of the crimson parent. The like of this is 
often seen in human families. We ought to add 
that this rose-bush is set in deep, rich soil, and 
is often treated with rotten leaves and chip-dirt. 
-o-.——--■—• 
Miss Lucy A. Watson, of Orange Co., Vt., 
sends two leaves, and a pencil sketch, of which 
the above is an engraving. She writes : “ I 
found this little plant at Thetforil Slate Quarry, 
near the Connecticut river. I have never seen 
one in blossom, and so can not ascertain the 
name, which I should like to know. In Novem¬ 
ber I found one specimen with the scape about 
four inches high, bearing little round pods like 
lobelia, but the seeds were gone. The plant had 
turned yellow, so I inferred that it was a bienni¬ 
al.”—The plant we have frequently seen, but do 
not at this moment recall its name. The pencil 
sketch sent, appears very life-like ; we shall be 
obliged to Miss Watson for pencilings of other 
plants in their season.—E d. 
Castor Oil Plant Ornamental. 
No plant in our garden the past season present¬ 
ed a more pleasing, showy appearance than the 
Pai.t.ia-Christi (Ricinus communis), commonly 
called the castor oil plant, because its seeds, which 
resemble small mottled beans in form and color, 
when pressed yield the common castor oil, so 
abundantly used as a cathartic medicine. May 
7th, some seeds furnished by a subscriber, were 
planted thickly in a drill twenty feet long. The 
weaker plants were gradually thinned out until 
only fifteen were left. These grew rapidly and 
by the middle of August were seven to ten feet 
in hight, and in bloom. The leaves growing al¬ 
ternately upon long stems were nearly circular, 
and many of them measured over two feet in di¬ 
ameter. The round hollow stalks were H to 2 
inches in diameter, smooth and covered with a 
rich bloom. The leaves cast a broad shade. 
The plant gives one a fine conception of the trop¬ 
ical palms, and taken altogether, we consider it 
highly ornamental in any garden. 
This plant is interesting in another way : com¬ 
mentators are pretty generally agreed, we be¬ 
lieve, that it is the veritable “Jonah’s Gourd,” 
referred to in the Bible. The original word, 
kikayon, translated “ gourd ” is believed to refer 
to the Palma-Christi. Its rapid growth, arid heavy 
shading foliage favor the idea; and that it with¬ 
ers quickly, we had a good illustration of. Wish¬ 
ing to exhibit a plant to a Sabbath school in con¬ 
nection with some remarks upon the history of 
Jonah, we cut one when just starting from home, 
but before we could get to the school room, say 
in fifteen minutes, the leaves were completely 
wilted down. 
In some parts of the country the castor oil 
plant is raised largely for manufacturing oil from 
the seeds or beans ; but very many persons have 
never seen it. To give such an opportunity to 
become acquainted with it by raising a few plants 
we have placed it in our Seed Distribution (No. 
111). It will grow to considerable size in any of 
the northern States we believe, though it will not 
mature seeds at the extreme north. Its size will 
depend upon the warmth, dryness and rich¬ 
ness of the soil, and upon the season, as in some 
places it is a mere dwarf but a few feet high, while 
in tropical climates it shoots upward twenty to 
thirty feet, or more. A brief chapter on its cul¬ 
ture for profit, from some experienced grower 
in Southern Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, or Vir¬ 
ginia, would doubtless be interesting. 
---— pm ■ - + <>■ - - 
A Spurious Scotch Pine. 
Every planter knows that one of the most com¬ 
monly planted evergreens, is the Scotch pine, or 
Scotch fir, as it is often incorrectly styled. It is 
a noble tree, of rapid growth, perfectly hardy, and 
of fine tint. Yet it seems there is a spurious sort 
in market, and purchasers must be on their guard. 
The late Sir Walter Scott, an enthusiastic 
planter and a skillful writer about trees, speaks of 
this spurious variety and cautions his friends 
against it. On reading his lines, we at first 
thought he might be running a comparison be¬ 
tween the European Silver Fir {Picca pcctinatn), 
and the American Balsam Fir (Picca balsamca ), 
but a careful reading showed that he was speak¬ 
ing of pines and not firs. His description of the 
interloper is so clear, that we copy it from the 
Foreign Quarterly Review : 
“W T e may remind the young planter, that the 
species of fir which in an evil hour was called 
Scotch, as now generally found in nurseries, is in¬ 
ferior in every respect to the real Highland fir, 
which may be found in the north of Scotland, in 
immense natural forests equally distinguished 
for their romantic beauty and national importance. 
This last is a noble tree, growing with huge, 
contorted arms, not altogether unlike the oak, 
and forming therein a strong contrast to the for¬ 
mality of the common fir. The wood, which is of 
a red color, is equal to that brought from Norway ; 
and when a plant, it may be known from the spu¬ 
rious or common fir, by the tufts of leaves being 
shorter and thicker, and by the color being con- 
considerably darker. The appearance of the 
Highland fir, when planted in its appropriate sit¬ 
uation amongst rocks and crags, is dignified and 
even magnificent; the dusky red of its massive 
arms and the dark hue of its leaves forming a 
happy accompaniment to scenes of this description. 
The ordinary fir is an inferior variety, brought 
from Canada half a century ago. Being very 
prolific, the nursery-gardeners found it easy to 
raise it in immense quantities ; and thus, though 
a mean looking tree, and producing wood of lit¬ 
tle comparative value, it has superseded the nat¬ 
ural plant of the country, and it is called, par cx 
ccllcnce, the Scotch fir. 
There is a great difference betwixt the wood 
even of this baser species, raised slowly and in 
exposed situations, and that of the same tree pro¬ 
duced upon richer soil—the last being much in¬ 
ferior in every respect, because more rapid in 
growth.” 
